News
New direction for school board, and CEO Jennings will apply for Superintendent
The Youngstown City School Board has a new president at the helm and the current CEO says he would like to stay in the district.
Tuesday, January 4th 2022, 11:10 PM EST
Updated:
The Youngstown City School Board has a new president at the helm and the current CEO says he would like to stay in the district.
After two recently elected board members took their oaths of office, in a vote of four to three, Tiffany Patterson was chosen as the Youngstown School Board President. She was elected over longtime board member and past President of the School Board, Brenda Kimble.
Patterson said her focus and the Board's will be moving the district forward, helping students meet educational benchmarks so the district once it regains local control in July this year, maintains local control.
"It's very important because if we don't meet our benchmarks the state can come back right in and take control over again," emphasized Patterson.
Hiring a Superintendent will also be on the school boards agenda. The Ohio School Board Association will assist in a nationwide search.
"Whoever we get I just want to be able to fall right in line with our plan and just hit the ground running," added Patterson.
There appears to be support with the make up of the new board, along with many teachers, and folks in the community for CEO Justin Jennings, who helped come up with the plan to get the district out of academic distress.
Jennings withdrew consideration for employment at a larger school district.
Jennings tells 21 News he wants to continue his work in Youngstown and will apply for the Superintendent job here
"I'm doing this because my heart's here," said Jennings.
The current CEO of the district tells us his goals remain the same.
"It would be to continue implementing our strategic plan, but my goal is always the same, that's to make sure our scholars are learning," emphasized Jennings.
Patterson said, "Our goal is to support our children because that's our main goal to help our kids move forward."
Board members also elected Juanita Walker as Vice President of the board.
A large crowd turned out to watch Dawn Turnage and Kenny Donaldson take their oaths of office.